College of Business welcomes new entrepreneurship and small business professor
Dr. Chris Welter, of Toledo, Oh. joined Georgia Southern University’s College of Business Administration as a new member of the entrepreneurship and small business faculty. Welter recently received his PhD in the spring of 2012 from Ohio State University (OSU). After completing one year of OSU’s Master’s program, Welter realized his true calling was to be a professor.
“I’ve always liked business,” Welter said. “I’ve always enjoyed thinking about business and thinking about how I can make a business better.” Taking over his sister’s paper route at age 11, Welter became involved with business at a young age. “There is always a better way to do whatever it is we are doing” Welter said. “I would always try and do things more efficiently and better.” Welter held several jobs all throughout middle, high school, and college.
He received his Bachelor of Science and Business Administration in management information systems from OSU in 2003 and decided to continue on and get his master’s degree. However, Welter did not finish the program. “Midway through my first year of my MBA I realized I wanted to be a professor,” Welter said. “A big part of it was prayer and realizing what God wanted me to do through my career.” Thus, he switched over from the master’s program to the PhD program. Although it was a difficult decision, Welter admits he learned a lot in the process which ultimately helped him in the end.
According to Welter, his inspiration for hard work originated with the idea of being able to purchase things he desired. A big-time gamer, Welter rushed out to buy the original Nintendo gaming system when it first was released. “I saved up enough money for the $99.99 entertainment system,” Welter said. “Literally, I have personally saved up and purchased every system after that.”
Welter loves games of all sorts, whether it is a video game or a board game, a physical or non-physical game. He even enjoys making up games and using them to help teach his classes. “There is a lot of research now talking about gamification, which is turning things that aren’t games into games,” Welter said. “I’m working on that for future versions of my entrepreneurship classes.”
In the future, Welter has planned a few changes he wants to make to his entrepreneurship courses. “I want to gamify-which sounds funny when you say it- but I want to gamify the entrepreneur class,” Welter said. “I think it could make the class a lot more engaging.”
In addition to changing the format of his classes, he plans to conduct research with other members of Georgia Southern’s faculty. “Being able to work with someone face to face is a lot more fun than doing it electronically,” Welter said. As a field of study, entrepreneurship is rather young. Welter has been building off research his previous advisor had done focusing on how different opportunities may lead to different entrepreneurial processes and business practices. His main focus is on the intersection of entrepreneurship and business strategy.
Welter is really looking forward to getting to know more about the Statesboro and Georgia Southern community. “I’m excited to learn how Georgia Southern works and to get to know students over time,” Welter said. “Getting acclimated will make everything more enjoyable and help me feel more at home.”
Welter has been married for three and a half years to his wife Suzy. Suzy previously worked with Young Life, a non-profit Christian youth organization dedicated to helping college students grow in their faith of Jesus Christ. She is now home taking care of their three-month old, Luke, and plans to return to Young Life in the future.
Posted in Teaching and Learning